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| Tuesday, 2 September 2003 |
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The perilous journey The Moving Finger By Lionel Wijesiri For as long as there have been people there has been migration. People have always sought to move to better their lot. Many people have willingly sought new lives - many have had little option when faced with violence, terror or economic doom to seek a new life. For a large number of people, somewhere else looks better. It is said that if you live in Somalia, Egypt looks pretty good. If you live in Egypt, Greece looks pretty good. If you live in Greece, Belgium looks pretty good. If you live in Belgium, Canada looks pretty good. Of course, not everybody thinks this way, but for many, the grass is greener elsewhere, and a significant political challenge for most countries is to run an immigration program that meets that country's objectives and allows that country sovereignty over an important set of decisions - the ability to choose who may or may not enter and the right to maintain the integrity of the immigration program Report Human trafficking has replaced the drugs trade as the world's largest illegal business, security experts have warned. The people trade has become a multi-billion dollar business, with millions of men, women and children bought and sold every year, according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). "Human trafficking not only continues but appears to be on the rise worldwide," the report states. It estimates that between 800,000 and 900,000 people are smuggled across borders each year, with up to 20,000 of them reaching the United States. "Traffickers exploit the aspirations of those living in poverty and those seeking better lives," the report further reads. "They use dramatic improvements in transportation and communications to sell men, women, and children into situations of forced labour and sexual slavery with virtually no risk of prosecution." For smugglers, high profits and low risk make the journeys worthwhile. Traffickers pocket $7 billion to $10 billion annually, the United Nations estimates - a handsome return for smugglers who, the report says, see "little rule of law, lack of enforcement of existing anti-trafficking laws, and corruption of law enforcement institutions." United Nations In order to better enable governments and the international community to respond to the worldwide problems of human smuggling and trafficking, the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP) four years ago launched the Global Program Against Trafficking in Human Beings. The Program aimed to bring to the forefront the involvement of organised crime groups in human smuggling and trafficking, and promote the development of effective criminal justice responses to these problems. The Global Program collected data on different routes for smuggling and trafficking human beings, and the structures and modalities used for transporting and subsequently exploiting them. A global inventory of best practices used in addressing organised crime involvement in smuggling and trafficking, including special legislation and institutional arrangements, was also created Home truths In the recent past, human smuggling and trafficking have become matters of increasing concern to the Sri Lankan Government. The Government brought in tighter surveillance of the seas and stricter penalties as steps aimed at checking human smuggling and flow of illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka. According to police sources last year, 808 Sri Lankans and 70 foreigners were arrested while trying to go to Italy on illegal boats. This year, police arrested 70 Sri Lankans and about 300 foreigners, including the latest group of Pakistanis. Most Sri Lankans seek greener pastures abroad for economic reasons and Italy seems to be the most preferred country now because of easier access than other countries. In Italy there is a labour shortage and finding a job is not that difficult since there are many Sri Lankan networks that help others to hide on arrival.. The Government estimates that there are over 100,000 Sri Lankans in Italy. Different gangs of traffickers deal with despatching their human cargo to assorted countries, and the rates vary for each country. "The highest rate is obviously that for travel to the US; this ranges from 10 to 12 lakh rupees. To get to the Italy and Germany the price averages six to eight lakh rupees," says a source. While some agents are organised and arrange for forged documents and air travel for their clients, in larger part arrangements are pretty basic. Customers often have to ply the sea by boat. The land or sea route is always risky, but people hazard it regardless of the dangers because they believe at the end of the journey a better life awaits them. In the business of human smuggling the agents are the main culprits, for it is they who initiate the financial deals with interested, and vulnerable, people. They arrange illegal travel documents and forge documents according to requirements - in short, mastermind the entire operation Senior Government officials, meanwhile, maintain that tracking down the agents is a difficult task because their customers, in the belief that they have attempted to help them, usually do not disclose the agents' identities. Moreover, even if some of them are arrested, police believe it is difficult to take action against them in a court of law in the absence of documentary evidence against them. Today's need What we need today are laws, besides prescribing harsh punishment for all those involved in the human smuggling, which will consolidate existing provisions under different laws dealing with the menace of illegal emigration and immigration, trans-border movements and related crimes. However, the menace of human smuggling in view of the stark economic disparities between different countries of east and the west could not be checked effectively by mere enactment of more stringent laws. The Government should strengthen monitoring and patrolling of the coastal belt and the country's borders particularly with the help of India. Domestic efforts to improve institutional capacity to match the technical competence of sophisticated criminals may be limited by a lack of resources or political will, human resistance to change or corruption. Furthermore, domestic efforts are generally concentrated within national borders. Regional (such as SAARC) and international cooperation is needed to address the transnational elements of organized crime The prospect of finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow on foreign shores sometimes propels people in dire economic straits to take risks that put their very lives at stake. Exploited by unscrupulous agents who prey on their desperation knowing that the risk of the operation is largely borne by the customers, such people can find their dreams turning into their worst nightmare. |
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